


if we're talking body

by mingyu-uji (knjkth)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Arm Wrestling, Canon Compliant, M/M, Set in Korea, Wrestling, [will add tags w future updates], a callback to 'The Boss Is Watching', ch1 is just 97z gc at a bar having fun, with guest appearances by bambam yugyeom eunwoo and jaehyun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:15:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28832526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knjkth/pseuds/mingyu-uji
Summary: The more Jungkook thinks about it, the more he’s convinced that this has only been overdue. The more he thinks of Seungcheol under his hands and Seungcheol moving his body with such ease, the more Jungkook feels a burning desire for a rematch—and he tells himself he only wants this so badly because this time, he needs towin.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Jeon Jungkook
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44
Collections: Seventeen Rare Pair Fest: 2 Rare 2 Pair





	if we're talking body

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [SVTRarePairFest2](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/SVTRarePairFest2) collection. 



>   
> **Prompt:**  
>  Driven by boredom, Jungkook challenges Seungcheol to a [rematch.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOwGAe6DXo8)  
> 
> 
> big thank u to mods for hosting this fest+for granting an extension!!!  
> many many thanks too, to nomie & barley for ur support and letting me bounce ideas off of u and to carina for prompting this big brain prompt! jk/scoups from 'the boss is watching' has legitimately been rattling in my brain for [a long while now](https://twitter.com/mingyu_uji/status/1282940709574569990), but without all of you i would never have written this. lov u <3 
> 
>   
> title, embarrassingly, from tove lo's talking body
> 
>   
>   
> [moodboard+twt here](https://twitter.com/mingyu_uji/status/1353815774968770560)  
> 

Jungkook is the right kind of hazy tonight. 

It’s been a while since he’s been here—

 _here_ , being: surrounded by his friends, by others who are his same age, who go through the same walks of life that he does, where he can pretend like they all have simple troubles and wants and desires. Where he can let his mind turn off for a while; where he’s no longer a dongsaeng or a sunbae, just a _friend_. 

He can get a little hazy, let the beer slosh around in his system, warm him up at his core and when he tips over to the side, Mingyu is right there and he turns and flashes a bright, canine-filled grin at him. To his left, Eunwoo is red-faced and chuckling. It’s easy. 

They’re just having fun.

Seokmin is talking about the new gym facilities at the Big Hit building—his eyes are wide and he’s tugging up at the sleeves of his shirt as he says excitedly, “Now’s the time to bulk up, isn’t it?” Bambam and Jaehyun are nodding seriously but Minghao is eyeing him with a skeptic look on his face and a smirk hiding just beneath the surface of his lips. 

“Well, there isn’t much else to do, is there,” Yugyeom says consideringly. 

Seokmin nods enthusiastically—he’s so into it that he looks like he’s got a bobble-head attached to his neck. He’s swaying in place, unconscious to his body’s movement as he continues to extol praises on the wonders a good gym routine can do for a person. “Bumzu hyung n’ Woozi hyung are always telling me to go with them. Jungkook-ah, it’s good, right?” 

Jungkook nods, a small smile creeping on his face at his friend’s excitement. He hasn’t run into Seokmin at the gym while he’s been there, neither has he seen Beomju or Jihoon, but it’s nice to know that they could all exist in the same space if they wanted to.

It’s nice to know that some of them are existing in the same space now. Jungkook giggles as he watches Seokmin flexing towards Minghao and Minghao trying to hide a smile under his unimpressed veneer. 

“You’re impressed, Myungho-yah, c’mon. I know you are.” 

“But our Jungkookie has been getting quite strong, hasn’t he?” Mingyu interrupts their mindless drunken-haze chatter with the question, tipping over into Jeongguk’s space and near-shouting into Jungkook’s ear. 

The table goes relatively silent, smirks forming on some of their faces. Yugyeom, attention diverted from Seokmin’s earlier antics, is grinning too-large, his cheeks pink as he opens his mouth—to tease, no doubt.

“Ah, it’s not like that,” Junkook says, averting his eyes, ducking down with the weight of Mingyu’s arm on him—well, at this point, the weight of his entire body, really, with the way he’s draped over Jungkook. Mingyu pushes at him insistently, using his body to try and tip him over, and so Jungkook steels himself. Mingyu doesn’t get very far.

Unfortunately, that seems to feed into Mingyu’s teasing. He grins like that’s exactly what he wanted to happen. 

“Strong enough to keep you from crushing him, looks like,” Minghao says wryly. He smirks in Jungkook’s direction, like he’s proud of him. Jungkook lets that bolster him a little. 

“You say that like it’s an accomplishment,” Jaehyun jokes, and then ducks when Mingyu lashes out an arm to whack at him. 

“For some of us it is,” Bambam mutters, more to himself than anything, looking consideringly at his own arms. Yugyeom goes to wrap a hand around the circumference of Bambam’s triceps. His fingertips don’t touch on the other side, but Bambam swats his hand away anyways. “I didn’t mean _me_ ,” he whines.

The part of Jungkook that likes to outshine, that likes to excel, perks up a little at that. “Oh no, of course it isn’t. But I think I’m strong enough that I could beat any of y’all if I wanted to.”

Bambam snorts. Minghao raises an eyebrow. 

“ _What_ is there to ‘beat us’ at?” asks Yugyeom incredulously. Mingyu is spluttering, affronted, into Jungkook’s ear, something about finally knowing the existence of ‘too-much confidence’. 

“Not much,” Jungkook says, a smirk pulling at his edges, being troublesome just because he can. “But if there was, I’d be winning.”

There’s a small uproar at his words. Some of them have their eyebrows raised, others have smirks on their faces; Bambam and Mingyu in particular look—and sound—outright offended. Minghao is not looking at the rest of them, his hand at his forehead and his eyes closed on an eye-roll. 

The people at the table a couple meters away from them turn towards them in surprise—Jungkook notices this only in his periphery. Their problem is that they can’t help themselves when they get together like this; Jungkook is not necessarily a loud person but some of the rest of 97z most definitely are, and then when they’re all together—

Mingyu quickly straightens up, whipping away from the little alcove under Jungkook’s arm, jostling him slightly. “Beat me, then,” he says, holding his hand out in the universally-known gesture for an arm-wrestling battle. 

Jungkook beats him, doesn’t even work up a sweat. 

There’s what feels like a single beat of silence, after Jungkook’s arm smacks Mingyu’s into the table below their elbows, when Mingyu’s staring at their clasped hands and Seokmin is staring aghast at Mingyu and Eunwoo is smirking wide and shit-eating in Jungkook’s direction and Jungkook has a moment to let the accomplishment _burst_ like a happy balloon within him, and then—

“No, hey, no, that doesn’t count.” Mingyu is speaking rapidly and lisping, his words tumbling one after the other and a bit slurred with the alcohol’s influence. High volume of words at great speed—these are the key characteristics of Mingyu-speech. Jungkook feels fond just at the familiarity of it all. Eunwoo is fully laughing now, and Mingyu immediately turns to whine at him. “He started before me! Don’t you think—wasn’t that too easy—”

“—yeah Mingyu-yah, we _do_ think it was too easy—”

“—we need to go again.” 

Jaehyun snorts, barely manages to make his voice heard over their general cacophony. “How many more times will you lose to him for it to count, then?” 

As it is, Mingyu does not hear him, too busy trying to force Jungkook into another round. Jungkook is valiantly resisting through the laughter that’s wracking his frame, and only registers Jaehyun’s words after he stands up and walks over to their side of the table, gives Jungkook a firm pat on the shoulder while also reaching for some more of the noodles that are still leftover in the pot. 

“G’d job,” he says to Jungkook through a mouthful of noodles. Jungkook nods, pleased, and then Mingyu’s hand goes slack in his.

He looks up, eyebrows raised. Mingyu’s got a strange glint in his eyes.

“No, no okay, you know what? Yeah, it’s like this.” His hand shoots out to grab at Jaehyun and Jaehyun nearly pokes him in the eyes with his chopsticks when he jerks away on instinct but Mingyu continues, determined. “I was—I’m the first level boss. Jaehyun is second level boss. You gotta beat him now. Okay, start,” and he very ineffectually throws Jaehyun’s arm back at Jungkook so that Jaehyun’s palm falls against Jungkook’s upper arm with a light _thwap_. 

Bambam makes suggestive eyebrows at the sound, and Yugyeom has started to shout something about the density of Jungkook’s muscles.

Jaehyun however, just pauses for a moment and then looks down at Jungkook. “You think you’ll beat me?” he asks, and he doesn’t really sound challenging like Mingyu had, just considering. Like he doesn't need to prove anything here. Assured. 

“That’s what we want to find _out_ , Jaehyun-ah,” Mingyu yells. His whole body is moving with his excitement and he keeps gesturing with his head, bobbing up with his chin and flapping his hands in their general direction to try to get them to start. His energy is contagious, maybe. Seokmin has started to sing some song he’s made up on the spot, something about Jungkook’s level two boss fight with Jaehyun. 

Jungkook meets Jaehyun’s eyes, and behind that calm exterior he sees something he relates to—there’s a look in Jaehyun’s eyes like he wants to win, too.

“You heard the man,” Jungkook says, then, holding out his hand, palm facing up, towards Jaehyun, unable to help the small smirk on his lips. “Guess we’ll find out.” 

Jaehyun’s not as tall or big as Mingyu, but he’s taller than Jungkook himself, and he’s—well, Jungkook knows what he looks like under that shirt. Jungkook hides himself under his baggy overshirts and jackets, too, so when Jaehyun clasps his hand and then pushes the material of his shirt up his arm with his other hand, Jungkook lets his eyes roam and catch on the muscle that he reveals, the way it swells when they bend their elbows to get in position. 

Actually, Jungkook needs to recalibrate.

“Hold on, let me just—” he releases Jaehyun’s hand and shakes his head, shakes his hair away from his eyes, stretches his hand out. He unintentionally catches Seokmin—gone strangely quiet—with a slack-jawed expression, his gaze, too, trained on Jaehyun’s triceps.

Ordinarily, that would make Jungkook chuckle, but he’s been there before. He remembers in a sudden flash the way Namjoon had looked in a simple muscle tee not two days ago, when Jungkook had caught him exiting the gym. Jungkook sighs. Yeah, he’s been there before.

Jaehyun squeezing around his hand pulls him suddenly out of his thoughts and into the arm-wrestling match. Yugyeom shouts “Go!” and Jaehyun’s grip is immediately strong. 

The thing with Mingyu was that he was big, but somehow he wasn’t as strong, proportionally speaking. True, Jungkook was often struck by the way that Mingyu’s body could feel so large next to his, and Mingyu wasn’t _weak_ , by any means; but he was gentle with his physicality, and Jungkook doesn’t know if it’s something he trained himself to be or if that’s just who Mingyu is, but he is more like a large, excitable puppy than a singularly trained wolf—if Jungkook could get carried away with his own metaphor. 

Jaehyun, though, seems like he uses and builds his muscle very intentionally. And Jungkook can appreciate that. He can also appreciate the way he can feel a slight strain in his forearms, the way he’s got his back straight and his chest leaning forward and the way Jaehyun’s body is mirroring his now, the fact that he knows both of them want to beat the other. Jungkook likes that they're both taking this seriously.

“Oh,” Jungkook grunts, when Jaehyun unexpectedly tips their hands towards Jungkook’s side, away from their halfway point. There are hoots and hollers from the other end of their table. For some reason, Minghao’s token high-pitched giggle cuts through to Jungkook’s forefront of consciousness; at the same moment, Jaehyun lets out a whoop of sound himself, biting his lips in concentration, and he manages to push Jungkook’s hand down until it’s just hovering above the table. Jungkook likes a challenge, though. 

And a challenge is what it is, but Jungkook can feel the moment Jaehyun slips, when he lets up for a moment—whether by accident or because he was just getting tired, Jungkook doesn't know, but he seizes his chance, and—

 _Thud._ The back of Jaehyun’s hand makes contact with the table with the most satisfying sound that Jungkook has heard—and maybe that’s all the more because victory makes everything sweeter, but Jungkook’s grinning wide and cocky now, unable to stop the victory crow that leaves his lips.

“Ohhhh, Jungkook,” Bambam crows, clearly impressed. 

Jaehyun’s mouth drops open ever so slightly; and then he’s shaking his head as if to clear it, a short laugh falling like disbelief from his lips. Jungkook keeps his eyes on Jaehyun, watches as he rolls his shoulders a moment later, bemused.

Minghao doesn’t even let him gloat properly. He’s looking up at Jungkook with an easy smile on his face and a challenge written on the curve of his lips. 

“Why,” Jungkook asks him, lips forming a displeased pout the more pleased that Minghao looks by the second. 

“Y’know. We aren't the ones you need to be proving yourself against.” Jungkook lifts a questioning brow. 

“See,” Minghao drawls, “I bet you couldn't beat our Seungcheol hyung.” 

And Minghao has to know that Jungkook will be unable to resist any implied challenge—he’s most definitely fully aware, if the giggle that slips through his lips the longer Jungkook stares at him is anything to go by.

And Jungkook may be predictable, but—

but he’s not this confident for _no_ reason. 

“You _bet_?” he confirms. “And what do I get when I win?” 

“Hmm, actually, I wouldn’t be so sure that you’ll win,” Seokmin starts, as if he’s just eager to stir shit up even more. “If I’m recalling correctly, hyung beat you a couple of years ago, didn't he?” 

Jungkook gapes. It feels like his entire being is coming to a halt. “What are you talking about?”

Mingyu starts sniggering, like he finally knows what’s going on. Seokmin’s got a _look_ on his face, and he continues, “Oh, come now, Jungkook-ssi, don’t tell me you’ve _forgotten_?” The more Seokmin talks, the more Jungkook starts to vaguely remember details rather than just flashes of images.

“The Boss Is Watching,” Minghao prompts, eyes trained on Jungkook like he’s waiting to see when Jungkook will reach this particular timestamp in his memory reel. And well—when the name is mentioned it brings with it the sense-memory of a couple different moments, but one in particular jumps to the forefront, especially given their current activities. 

And truthfully, Jungkook remembers. He remembers standing up to go against Seventeen-leader-S.Coups, after having seen him beat his other two opponents like it was inevitable. And not because the other two boys had been _weak_ , no; but because Seungcheol had stepped up to the rink that day with the singular determination that he was going to win. 

Jungkook remembers his young-boy awe at hearing Seungcheol say “I’ll show you the strength of rookie that’s full of spirit,” and “I’ll do even better.” The way all he needed was a quiet confidence to utter those words, because he had the muscles to back them up. 

Jungkook remembers stepping up to the stage, standing face to face with Seungcheol, and seeing up-close how he’d been so focused, all hard lines and furrowed brows. Jungkook remembers him as being taller, bigger, remembers the feeling of Seungcheol's shoulder beneath his ear just as they’d started to wrestle, and the way Seungcheol had driven forward so immediately, shoulder to Jungkook’s chest, once they’d started to wrestle; the way Jungkook had _just_ managed to hook his leg behind Seungcheol’s knee but Seungcheol had just _lifted_ him and let his weight drop them both to the ground. 

And Jungkook had gotten second place.

Mostly Jungkook thinks about Seungcheol’s strict, intense expression in the moments before they wrestled, and the stark contrast of that to the big, blinding smile he’d worn when he’d bounded up to Jungkook to shake his hand just after he’d thrown him to the floor. He’d grabbed Jungkook’s hand and pulled him in for such a _warm_ hug, his head resting for a moment on Jungkook’s shoulder like he was affirming something. _You did well, too_. 

Jungkook flushes with the memory of it, suddenly feeling like he's reliving that moment with a wholly new clarity. 

And now, the more he thinks about it, the more he’s convinced that this has only been overdue. The more he thinks of Seungcheol under his hands and Seungcheol moving his body with such ease, the more Jungkook feels a burning desire for a rematch—and he tells himself he only wants this so badly because this time, he needs to _win._

“Okay,” he finds himself saying, drawing himself out of his reminiscing. As it is, most of the others aren’t listening anymore.

“Okay,” he repeats, louder this time; this time he gets Jaehyun's and Minghao's attention. Jaehyun nods at him placatingly, but Minghao meets his eyes. “I’ll do it.”

“Do what?” Mingyu slurs from next to him. He’s back to his original perch on Jungkook’s shoulders and at this time he looks distinctly more drunk. 

“I want a rematch. With S.Coups-ssi.” Seokmin starts to snicker and Jungkook frowns at him. “Why are you _laughing.”_

“I’m not laughing—” Seokmin says through his chuckles. 

Jaehyun and Yugyeom and Bambam have finished up whatever remained of the food at this point, and Eunwoo tugs at Seokmin to stand up so they can go pay up at the front; as it is, Seokmin is spared from having to explain himself to Jungkook when he stands too, staggering with the weight of a very uncooperative Mingyu on his shoulder.

Minghao walks up to Mingyu’s other side and tugs on his arm, and Mingyu just drags the both of them closer to him with his long arms and his dopey smile. “And how exactly do you plan on doing that, Jungkook-ssi,” Minghao teases, grinning at him. 

“Can’t you ask him for me or something, I don't know, you're the one that suggested this!” 

“It wasn't so much a suggestion as it was a consideration. And I really hoped you wouldn't take it seriously,” Minghao says wryly. 

“Ay, Myungho-yah, that’s a lie,” Mingyu chuckles from between them. “You knew perfectly well that Jungkook just can't help himself—”

“So, Mingyu, you’ll tell him, right? Ask him for me?” Jungkook puts his face near Mingyu’s, close until Mingyu is giggling like a little child, an uncharacteristic show of physical closeness between the two of them but it works, here, now. 

“Fine, yeah, okay,” Mingyu acquiesces. “I’ll text him, but I’ll do it later, okay, because if I type now it’ll just be full of typos and hyung will tease me that he can't understand—” 

“And I’m going to beat him this time,” Jungkook adds, as a final note. He realizes as he says it that he needs it to happen. 

Minghao raises an amused brow. “All right, then. We’ll be looking forward to it.”

“So what do you want if you win?” Seokmin calls back towards them. Jungkook starts; he hadn't realized Seokmin had been listening, but he thinks for a moment. 

Then, “I think beating your hyung will be enough of a win for me.” Seokmin grins back at him and Jungkook feels a familiar beating in his chest, a thrumming of anticipation. 

**Author's Note:**

> & that concludes chapter one! i'm trying something new with this and plan to split it up into three chapters; very sorry that seungcheol barely shows up here but truth be told this is as much a 97z fic as it is a skoops fic lol. but seungcheol is comin pls do not fear. thank u so much for reading <3 will update soon!


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